Hyderabad: GHMC’s widely publicised helpline 040-21111111 and 155304 seem to be inoperative. When an attempts were made repeatedly to reach these numbers, the standard response was a message saying, “Kindly be on line, the operator will be connected.” But it never did.
When one calls the number 040-21111111 again, the response is, “Welcome to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, please wait while we transfer your call to our executive,” but that’s a deadend.
Calls were made five times to the number without response. The sixth time, someone picked the call. Asked as to why calls were not being attended, the voice at the other end said, “There’s no issue, we have been receiving calls since morning.” When tried a seventh time, the attempt failed again.” DC reader Abhishek Kumar wrote to the daily saying, “This is hard, we have been trying to get both the GHMC phone numbers, +91 40-21111111 and 155304. Both just give ‘hold on’ message but never connect to any department or the operator.” Kumar said, “We live in Subhashnagar (Tameezan complex). Residents burn coconut waste daily in the morning and this causes pollution because of which many residents are leaving the complex.”
Besides air pollution we have health problems too as smoke enters people’s houses, he adds.
Some people have set up a company and they dump a tonne of material daily, which creates sound pollution on a daily basis. I have been trying to reach the GHMC through the helpline, but no executive seems to be on line.”
The call center was set up by the GHMC in 2013 to resolve the grievances of the citizens. However, many complaints remain unsolved even after the stipulated 48 hours. The complaints mostly relate to birth and death certificates, property tax, trade licence, electoral photo identity cards (EPIC), street lights, non-lifting of garbage from bins, illegal constructions and damaged roads.
